SST Statistics for David Abel
Adam A. Kemberling
Updated on: 2021-08-12
SST Patterns of New England
This report seeks to showcase how different areas in New England are warming in the larger context of the rest of the world and specific features of 2021.
The main focal areas are the Northeastern United States’ Continental Shelf, the Gulf of Maine, the Scotian Shelf, and the Bay of Fundy.
These are then compared to the warming rates of the world’s large marine ecosystems to place their trends among areas across the globe.
Northeastern US Focal Regions
Each of the focal regions have been added to the {gmRi} package and can have their shapefile locations and temperature histories looked up with gmRi::get_timeseries_paths()
Focal Region Map
For a visual, these are the areas we’ll be looking at:
Loading Timeseries
Warming Rates
Celsius
| Annual Change in Sea Surface Temperature | |
|---|---|
| Data from Years 1982-2020, Units: Celsius | |
| Region | Annual Change in Temperature |
| Global Oceans | 0.013 |
| Northeastern U.S. Shelf | 0.036 |
| Long Island Sound | 0.048 |
| Gulf of Maine | 0.041 |
| Scotian Shelf | 0.039 |
| Bay of Fundy | 0.064 |
| Data Source: NOAA OISSTv2 Daily Sea Surface Temperature Data. | |
| Reference Climatolgy Period: 1982-2011. | |
Fahrenheit
| Annual Change in Sea Surface Temperature | |
|---|---|
| Data from Years 1982-2020, Units: Fahrenheit | |
| Region | Annual Change in Temperature |
| Global Oceans | 0.024 |
| Northeastern U.S. Shelf | 0.066 |
| Long Island Sound | 0.087 |
| Gulf of Maine | 0.073 |
| Scotian Shelf | 0.071 |
| Bay of Fundy | 0.116 |
| Data Source: NOAA OISSTv2 Daily Sea Surface Temperature Data. | |
| Reference Climatolgy Period: 1982-2011. | |
Monthly Anomalies
Celsius
| Average Temperature Anomalies - 2021 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Degrees Celsius Above Normal | ||||||
| Region | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun |
| Global Oceans | 0.24 | 0.25 | 0.28 | 0.30 | 0.30 | 0.31 |
| Northeastern U.S. Shelf | 1.27 | 0.96 | 1.03 | 1.04 | 1.54 | 2.00 |
| Long Island Sound | 0.39 | 0.61 | 0.19 | 1.01 | 2.40 | 2.49 |
| Gulf of Maine | 1.80 | 1.58 | 1.03 | 1.23 | 1.78 | 2.60 |
| Scotian Shelf | 1.93 | 1.11 | 0.46 | 0.40 | 1.10 | 1.28 |
| Bay of Fundy | 3.09 | 2.76 | 2.30 | 2.57 | 3.32 | 2.78 |
| Data Source: NOAA OISSTv2 Daily Sea Surface Temperature Data. | ||||||
| Reference Climatolgy Period: 1982-2011. | ||||||
Fahrenheit
| Average Temperature Anomalies - 2021 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Degrees Fahrenheit Above Normal | ||||||
| Region | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun |
| Global Oceans | 0.43 | 0.46 | 0.51 | 0.54 | 0.55 | 0.55 |
| Northeastern U.S. Shelf | 2.28 | 1.73 | 1.85 | 1.87 | 2.77 | 3.59 |
| Long Island Sound | 0.70 | 1.10 | 0.35 | 1.81 | 4.32 | 4.48 |
| Gulf of Maine | 3.23 | 2.84 | 1.85 | 2.21 | 3.21 | 4.68 |
| Scotian Shelf | 3.47 | 2.00 | 0.82 | 0.73 | 1.98 | 2.31 |
| Bay of Fundy | 5.56 | 4.96 | 4.13 | 4.63 | 5.98 | 5.00 |
| Data Source: NOAA OISSTv2 Daily Sea Surface Temperature Data. | ||||||
| Reference Climatolgy Period: 1982-2011. | ||||||
Recorded Temperature Increases
Celsius
| Change in Annual Temperature | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 to 2021 | ||||
| Region | 1982 Temp | 2020 Temp | Temp Change | Units |
| Global Oceans | 13.44 | 13.96 | 0.52 | Celsius |
| Northeastern U.S. Shelf | 11.60 | 13.16 | 1.56 | Celsius |
| Long Island Sound | 10.26 | 13.51 | 3.25 | Celsius |
| Gulf of Maine | 9.91 | 11.35 | 1.44 | Celsius |
| Scotian Shelf | 7.28 | 8.28 | 1.00 | Celsius |
| Bay of Fundy | 6.73 | 9.10 | 2.37 | Celsius |
| Data Source: NOAA OISSTv2 Daily Sea Surface Temperature Data. | ||||
Fahrenheit
| Change in Annual Temperature | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 to 2021 | ||||
| Region | 1982 Temp | 2020 Temp | Temp Change | Units |
| Global Oceans | 56.18 | 57.12 | 0.94 | Fahrenheit |
| Northeastern U.S. Shelf | 52.87 | 55.69 | 2.82 | Fahrenheit |
| Long Island Sound | 50.47 | 56.31 | 5.84 | Fahrenheit |
| Gulf of Maine | 49.84 | 52.43 | 2.59 | Fahrenheit |
| Scotian Shelf | 45.10 | 46.91 | 1.81 | Fahrenheit |
| Bay of Fundy | 44.12 | 48.38 | 4.26 | Fahrenheit |
| Data Source: NOAA OISSTv2 Daily Sea Surface Temperature Data. | ||||
Warming Rankings
| Ranking Warming Across Large Marine Ecosystems | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Region | Warming Rank | Warming Rate C | Warming Rate F |
| Bay Of Fundy | 1 | 0.064 | 0.116 |
| Long Island Sound | 2 | 0.048 | 0.087 |
| Baltic Sea | 3 | 0.047 | 0.084 |
| Black Sea | 4 | 0.046 | 0.082 |
| Gulf Of Maine | 5 | 0.041 | 0.073 |
| Iceland Shelf And Sea | 6 | 0.040 | 0.072 |
| Scotian Shelf | 7 | 0.039 | 0.071 |
| Northeast Us Continental Shelf | 8 | 0.036 | 0.066 |
| North Sea | 9 | 0.036 | 0.064 |
| Norwegian Sea | 10 | 0.033 | 0.060 |
| Mediterranean Sea | 11 | 0.031 | 0.055 |
| West Bering Sea | 12 | 0.030 | 0.055 |
| Sea Of Japan | 13 | 0.029 | 0.052 |
| Data Source: NOAA OISSTv2 Daily Sea Surface Temperature Data. | |||
| Gulf of Maine, Long Island Sound, and Bay of fundy not true LME's | |||
2020 in the Gulf of Maine
August of 2020 the Gulf of Maine experienced its warmest temperatures on record. This section digs into when that was and how hot it was at that time.
2021 in the Gulf of Maine
A marine heatwave is defined a when seawater temperatures exceed a seasonally-varying threshold (usually the 90th percentile) for at least 5 consecutive days. Successive heatwaves with gaps of 2 days or less are considered part of the same event.
Gulf of Maine Heatwave Record
Heatwave Trends
This section is for looking more closely at how patterns in heatwave events are progressing. For each year summaries for the number of heatwaves, their average duration, and their peak temperatures are recorded.
World
Northeast Shelf
Gulf of Maine
Bay of fundy
Scotian Shelf
Long Island Sound
Gulf of Maine 2021 Highlights
2021, particularly mid-May was an exceptionally hot time for the Gulf of Maine. Here is how the average temperature and anomaly strength compares across other years in the record.
Why flag 2012? In many ways 2012 was an exceptionally hot year, maintaining temperatures above marine heatwave threshold for nearly the entire year. For comparison purposes 2012 has also been flagged as it is the hottest year on recent record.
This section seeks to place the monthly temperatures in the context of previous years for the purpose of answering:
- Is this the hottest month on record?
- If not, when was it hotter?
- If so, when was the runner up?
- Top 5?
Summary Prep
Average Temperature
The average monthly temperature is fairly straightforward, and is useful for grounding these metrics in physical units rather than “anomalies”.
Average Anomaly
The average daily anomaly sets the benchmark for how far from the climate average a particular month is.
Anomaly Strength
Peak daily anomalies are indicative of acute thermal stress and may put species over their thermal stress limits if they are unable move/adapt to avoid/cope with them.
Smallest Anomaly
The smallest or lowest anomaly temperature is a useful indication of temperature relief, or a break from thermal stress. A high minimum anomaly value is indicative that even “troughs” in temperature may still be stressful.
Total Temperature Distance
The additive total of daily anomalies is a proxy that tracks the excess amount of temperature in the system.
2021 in New England
Maps
World
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Northeastern US Shelf
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Gulf of Maine
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Scotian Shelf
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Bay of Fundy
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Disclaimers
All data views are temporary unless noted otherwise. Data for June 2021 is currently preliminary data, and may change as QA/QC procedures take place.
A work by Adam A. Kemberling
Akemberling@gmri.org